


primrose

by calcifowl



Series: Ken's Moving Castle [2]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Howl's Moving Castle Fusion, M/M, and flower crowns, awkward teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 08:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7794613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calcifowl/pseuds/calcifowl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you think I should just quit?” Hongbin asks Wonsik one day.</p><p>It’s the first time Hongbin has seen him genuinely upset.</p><p>(This story takes place chronologically before 'Ken's Moving Castle', but you don't really need to read one to get the other.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	primrose

**Author's Note:**

> i ended up with A Lot of irrelevant backstory and facts after Ken's Moving Castle and figured i might as well do something with that, so have some teen!rabin (they're about fifteen here, in case you're wondering)

Hongbin wants to go back inside as soon as the first ray of sunshine touches his skin. It’s way too hot and the sun is too bright, but even though Jaehwan has already sent him a message telling him they’ve had a terrible day at school and he’s _literally dying_ and _so sorry_ _for not being able to make it today_ , Hongbin is certain Wonsik will be waiting at the usual spot. He’s right, of course, but that isn’t a surprise; they’ve known each other for almost three years now and Wonsik has never once cancelled on him before, no matter the circumstances.

They met because of Jaehwan and became really good friends almost instantly, even though they were a bit awkward with each other at first; kind of bound to happen when you literally charm someone’s pants off before you’ve even introduced yourself, Hongbin guesses. It was Wonsik’s fault, really, for suddenly appearing out of nowhere right as Hongbin was practicing what Jaehwan had just taught him about how to disappear something non-sentient from point A and make it reappear in point B. Wonsik had been looking for Jaehwan, and had decided to sneak up on him after seeing him disappear towards a more secluded part of the school grounds. Wonsik didn’t know that Jaehwan wasn’t alone, much less that he’d been teaching some of the things they had been learning at school to Hongbin, who technically wasn’t qualified to even know about what exactly they were learning in the first place; if you weren’t a student there or training with a renowned wizard or witch at their age, it meant that you had very little access to magic, and there was nothing that could be done about it. Hongbin had accepted a long time ago the fact that he could never aspire to be anything more than a hedge wizard, but he still wanted to be as good as he possibly could, and Jaehwan had been happy to help. It wasn’t exactly forbidden, at least not explicitly, but people didn’t do this kind of thing or at least they didn’t talk about it, so they had been keeping their little meetings in secret just in case. The fact that, after Hongbin’s little gasp of surprise, 1) Jaehwan’s vest was still exactly where it had a been a second before, 2) Wonsik was there, pantless and completely frozen in horror, and 3) not even Hongbin knew where point B was anymore, only served to make everything incredibly funny to Jaehwan, who of course was the only one laughing. Wonsik started turning an alarming shade of red while staring at Hongbin, whose only reaction besides his (very) surprised face was a really awkward laugh. They found the pants hanging from a branch in a nearby tree a few minutes of frantic search later, and after being filled in on exactly what they were doing, even Wonsik congratulated Hongbin on how good the spell had been. He started to join their little makeshift lessons after that, almost every day after school, and eventually volunteered to teach some basic stuff to Hongbin who, maybe because they were closer in age, was much more at ease with him and seemed to understand some things easier. Almost a year later, Hongbin’s affinity to greenery in general and flowers in particular suddenly manifested during his thirteenth birthday, when he’d been so happy at seeing the surprise birthday party his friends were throwing for him that he’d made half the room bloom. The floor had been a bit hard to fix, but it turned out this affinity made him incredibly good at the physical part of potion-making, which Wonsik was a complete disaster at, and so their little arrangement was now a win-win situation for both of them.

Hongbin can see how tired Wonsik is even before he asks how his day has been and he can pretend to have had a completely uninteresting day where he didn’t exhaust himself because, again, he tried to do too much. Magic does that, sometimes; it runs through you with so much momentum it’s hard to control, and you end up using all your energy trying to direct it. It’s why you shouldn’t try using more than your body can handle and the reason Hongbin gets so many headaches, because he is stubborn like that and never stops when he should, but he still gets unreasonably angry when it’s Wonsik who does it.

There’s not much to be taught anymore. Jaehwan is experimenting more and more with his magic these days, and they come up with some great spells together, but after all these years their levels are just too different and Hongbin can’t really learn anything new, so he mostly tries to hone his skills as much as possible. He has gotten fairly good at the few things he can actually do, but Hongbin’s true talent still lies in potion-making. Without Jaehwan there Wonsik would actually have to do all the magic for that, though, so Hongbin pretends he needs some help remembering a really simple calming spell he mastered ages ago and Wonsik guides him through every step patiently, as if he hadn’t done that countless times before. After enough time has passed so as to not be too conspicuous, Hongbin starts complaining of a light headache until he ends up convincing Wonsik to lie down a bit in the shade of the nearby trees. It’s something Hongbin does often, and he would be surprised Wonsik hasn’t caught on yet if he didn’t know how good and sweet Wonsik is. It’s not that Hongbin takes advantage of his good-naturedness, don’t get him wrong; he mostly does it for Wonsik, because he knows he wouldn’t rest otherwise, but Hongbin also likes the way he feels when they’re together like this, how it calms him down just being near him. Summer is ending soon anyway, and in a few weeks it will be too cold to lie outside like this, so Hongbin will take every chance he gets before then.

_“Do you think I should just quit?” Hongbin asks Wonsik one day. They’re lying in the grass under Hongbin’s favorite weeping willow in the school grounds, his head pillowed on Wonsik’s thigh. They’re technically in private property and maybe they should start caring about that now that they are older, but they never did before and probably never will, at least not until someone catches them._

_“What? Why?” It’s the first time Hongbin has seen him genuinely upset._

_“I don’t know, I’ve been thinking about it lately. There’s nothing more I can learn, and maybe it’s time I give up and try to learn to do something I can live off of in the future. We’re not kids anymore.”_

_“But you’re so good—” Hongbin is about to argue, but Wonsik cuts him off, “No, listen. I know you don’t believe me for some reason, but you really_ are _good at potions. Way better than most of our teachers; you can ask Jaehwan. And even if you can’t do it alone, with your skill and my magic we could do it,” Wonsik takes a deep breath, and his next words are half whispered in a bit of a rush, “we could make a name for ourselves. We could do it together.”_

_Both of them are glad then that the other can’t see his face and how furiously they are blushing. Hongbin is too stunned to say anything; he knows the proposal is serious because Wonsik never says anything he doesn’t mean, but it feels too… real and weirdly intimate, and Hongbin really wants to say yes, which only makes things more embarrassing, so he opts for a soft hum of acknowledgement. Wonsik doesn’t miss it but is too busy freaking out at his own forwardness to say anything else._

Hongbin didn’t really mean to fall asleep, but he wakes up a bit later to find Wonsik next to him. He looks so peaceful lying down on the grass with his hair almost covering his eyes and framing his sleeping face that Hongbin almost doesn’t want to move for fear of waking him. He’s not surprised to see that they’re completely surrounded by flowers, especially Wonsik. It’s not something new and Hongbin tries not to think about it too much; he _knows_ his magic tends to spill over when his feelings get a bit out of control, but that’s not a thought he wants to put into words just yet. He spends a few minutes examining each type of flower, trying to decide which ones he likes best. They all seem to be out of season, mostly harbingers of spring, and in the end he goes by instinct and picks some of the really pretty ones around Wonsik’s head until he gets enough of them to start weaving. Hongbin feels a bit silly about it, but having all those flowers around so often and just letting them die seemed like a waste, so he started to learn how to make flower crowns not too long ago. At first he did it mostly to be annoying, if he’s being completely honest, but they look good on Wonsik and it’s become a bit of a habit. Hongbin finds the repetitive motions relaxing, now that he has practiced so much that he doesn’t need to think too much about what he’s doing with his hands.

When he’s finished, Hongbin lays the flower crown carefully on Wonsik’s head and moves slightly away to better appreciate his work. It’s made out of primroses, with a few snowdrops here and there, and it looks really good on him, the white of the flowers contrasting with his dark hair. There’s a slight frown on Wonsik’s brow, and Hongbin smooths it out with his thumb. Wonsik’s mouth opens slightly at the touch and he snores once softly, making Hongbin laugh. Wonsik tells Hongbin how beautiful he is so often that Hongbin doesn’t even get visibly flustered anymore, but he has never had the courage to tell Wonsik that he has the most perfect nose he’s ever seen, or how cute he finds the way it crinkles when he laughs, even though he always wants to.

It’s still early, the sun shining brightly, so Hongbin decides to let him sleep a bit longer and lies down next to Wonsik again, still looking at the peaceful expression on his face. Wonsik shifts closer to the body heat and Hongbin sighs contently and soon falls back asleep, lulled by the sound of his soft breathing.

**Author's Note:**

> primrose - young love, "i can't live without you"  
> snowdrop - hope


End file.
